This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to the following Chinese Patent application no. CN 201410584901.X, filed Oct. 27, 2014, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference thereto.
Various embodiments of the present invention relate to an actuator for a vehicle latch and more particularly, a mechanical seal between a housing and a cover of the actuator and a method for providing a seal between a housing and a cover of the actuator.
In some applications, latches are required to perform numerous operations within limited confines of an application area of the item they are installed in. Still further, some latches include motorized actuators for performing some of these operations.
An actuator may have a housing with a cover configured to be secured to the housing. Due to the environments the actuator is located in it is desirable to have a good seal between the cover and the housing of the actuator. In order to protect the internal components of the actuator from moisture and/or debris. While an actuator is mentioned above it is also understood that it is also desirable to provide a good seal between a cover and a housing of a latch for a vehicle latch, that may or may not have an actuator secured thereto.
One method for providing a seal between the cover and the housing of an actuator is to locate an elastomer in between edges of the cover and the housing that are adjacent to each other when the cover is secured to the housing. However and in order to provide a suitable seal, a compressible elastomer must be used in order to provide a separation force between the cover and the housing. In addition the elastomer must also be capable of deforming such that it fills the gaps in between the two components (e.g., cover and housing) due to imperfections in the mating of the components.
An alternative method of sealing a plastic cover to a plastic housing is achieved through a welding process such as ultrasonic welding or laser welding. However, the ultrasonic welding process requires an extra component or portion for use as the staking in the welding process, which can be pre-molded or extruded in place. The laser welding process on the other hand, requires the use of expensive equipment, which may also be labor-intensive.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an improved seal between the housing and the cover of an actuator or latch for a vehicle latch.